Inside Berston Field House, where Flint's Claressa Shields became a champ

Flint's Claressa Shields discusses her weight, eating habits and more as she prepares to fight undefeated German Nikki Adler at MGM Grand in Detroit in 'ShoBox: The Next Generation.' Recorded Aug. 1, 2017.

Shields trains out of the historic gym in her hometown, and it's produced a pair of Olympic gold medals and now a world title opportunity

Claressa Shields poses during the weigh-in for her boxing match against Nikki Adler on Thursday, August 3, 2017, at MGM Grand Detroit.(Photo: Brandon Folsom Special to DFP)

Inside the humid basement of historic Berston Field House in Flint, there's a large room occupied by exercise equipment, punching bags and a new but well-worn boxing ring.

It's the same room that carved the booming career of two-time Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields, who faces undefeated Nikki Adler for the WBC and vacant IBF super middleweight belts at 10:30 p.m. Friday at MGM Grand Detroit. The fight marks only the second time women have headlined a Showtime main event on national television.

Shields, in March, was part of the other one, knocking out Szilvia Szabados to claim the North American Boxing Federation middleweight title in only her second professional fight.

The 22-year-old is 3-0 since turning pro in November 2016, including one technical knockout. Now, the Flint native gets her first shot at a world title and her first opportunity to become the face of women's boxing.

Her journey began deep inside Berston Field House, the 94-year-old recreation center where she still trains. Sitting ringside in that purple- and yellow-colored basement room is where the Free Press found her on July 21.

Undefeated German boxer Nikki Adler talks with the media before training for her upcoming fight with Claressa Shields on Tuesday, Aug. 1 at Kronk Community Center in Detroit. Brandon Folsom, Special to the Detroit Free Press

Undefeated German boxer Nikki Adler talks with the media before training for her upcoming fight with Claressa Shields on Tuesday, Aug. 1 at Kronk Community Center in Detroit. Brandon Folsom, Special to the Detroit Free Press

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Better than the boys

Clarence "Bo Bo" Shields was 27-0 as an amateur boxer and had another 54 or so wins as an "anything goes" underground fighter.

After he finished an seven-year prison sentence in 2004 for a breaking and entering conviction, he tried to rebuild his relationship with his daughter. He often picked up Claressa from school and drove her home.

Sometimes they'd talk about how Claressa was bullied. Other times they'd talk about his boxing career.

"He would mention that Muhammad Ali had a daughter, Laila Ali, that took after him," Claressa remembers him saying. "Muhammad Ali had a lot of kids, he'd say, but only his daughter took after him.

"So when my dad told me that, I thought he was kind of telling me that he wanted me to take after him."

Clarence was reluctant to let Claressa sign up for boxing lessons; boxing was for men, he thought. It was a dangerous sport that helped him support himself and, at times, his family with his prize money from street fighting.

But Claressa was persistent, and Clarence took her to Berston when she was 11.

Claressa still remembers how the place looked. The gym used to be colored red, white and blue. It's new industrial rubber floor was once a discolored white tile, the same kind often used in public bathrooms. The boxing ring had a crack in the middle of it that made loud noises when boxers sparred. It had plenty of imperfections.

"OK," Crutchfield said. "J.W., why don't you mess with her and teach her a little something?"

Claressa spent her training sessions with J.W. Jackson, a former boxer who used to travel with legendary trainer Emanuel Steward. He occasionally coached kids with Crutchfield at Berston. Crutchfield has trained as many as 200 local kids in his boxing program, and he first worked with Claressa on a day when Jackson didn't make it to practice.

CLOSE

Claressa Shields, a Flint native and two-time Olympic boxing gold medalist, discusses her career and the legacy she plans to leave in women's professional boxing. Video by Ryan Garza/DFP
Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press

"Claressa?" he responded. "For now on, your name is 'Ressa. Now let me see what you've been working on with J.W."

Claressa threw a jab, then a hook. She jabbed again, and then she started putting together combinations.

"Ooooh!" Crutchfield yelled. "You got to come with me for now on. You're doing it better than the boys."

That was the moment, Crutchfield later said, he knew Shields would be the best female fighter in the world.

Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields is greeted by her former coach Jason Crutchfield while visiting Berston Field House, the gym where she first started her boxing career, after arriving back to Flint with her second Olympic gold medal for women's boxing on Tuesday August 23, 2016.(Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)

Sizing up the Olympics

A large pillar flanks the north end of Berston's boxing ring in the basement.

Nine years ago, Crutchfield found himself leaning against it and pondering Shields' future while she sparred in the ring.

"One of these days," he said, "they're going to let women in the Olympics."

"Well, I hope they do!" a 13-year-old Shields yelled back to him.

Less than a year later, Crutchfield leaned against that same pillar as he read a letter he had received from USA Boxing which said the International Olympics Committee president at the time, Jacques Rogge, had announced women's boxing would be included in the London 2012 Summer Olympics for the first time ever.

There would be three weight classes: 112, 132 and 165 pounds.

Crutchfield cracked a smile and looked toward the ring at Shields, who was then 14 years old and only 147 pounds.

Another year passed – she got another birthday older – and Shields weighed 165 pounds. She discovered the muscles on her arms were growing and her legs were getting bigger by the day.

Shields was ready to fight across the pond.

Garrett Rice Jr., 15, challenges Olympic gold medalist Claressa Shields to see whose the fastest while visiting Berston Field House, the gym where she first started her boxing career, after arriving back to Flint with her second Olympic gold medal for women's boxing on Tuesday August 23, 2016. Rice has been working out at the boxing gym since he was six years-old and has known Shields.(Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press)

Channeling the rage

Shields cruised through the 2012 Olympics on her way to her first gold medal.

Only Sweden's Anna Laurell, who was 15 years older and almost 3 inches taller, gave Shields fits. Shields ultimately edged her by an 18-14 decision in the quarterfinal.

Shields had similar success in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, winning all nine of her rounds en route to her second straight title and becoming the first American boxer to win multiple gold medals.

Shields racked up a 78-1 record in her amateur career. Not much challenged her.

She had no issue following Crutchfield's training regimen and "trusting his process." She'd run 3 miles to Berston, do 500 crunches, hit the punching bag and shadow box before she had to report to class at Flint Northwestern. While some of her classmates hated getting up as early at 6 a.m., Shields thrived on it.

"I would tell her, 'Be here at 8:30,'" Crutchfield said. "That girl would be here at 6:30 waiting for us to open the gym."

Shields' toughest fight was the one inside her head as a teenager, when she learned learning to deal with anger problems.

One time, her sparring partner at Berston got the best of her when she was 14, and she went off on him.

"It just showed me how much I hated losing," Shields said. "When he got out of the ring, he was talking trash to me. So I grabbed a chair and tried to throw it at him.

"Jason told me I couldn't do that."

It got even worse for Shields, who wound up getting into "yelling wars" with Crutchfield and the other coaches.

By the time she was 16, the trainers sat her down and told her she needed to get a grip on her anger.

"You're a great boxer," Shields recalled one of her coaches saying. "You're going to be the best women's fighter ever. But he said, 'You're not going to be as great as you want to be if you don't check your attitude.' I remember thinking to myself, like, 'Shut up!'

"But when he said that, it made me change a lot about me. It made me start biting my tongue more."

Claressa Shields and Nikki Adler pose after the weigh-in for their boxing match on Thursday, August 3, 2017, at MGM Grand Detroit.(Photo: Brandon Folsom Special to DFP)

Training locally

In the end, being a boxing coach is only part-time work for Crutchfield, 53. He's a cable contractor by day.

He can get time off work to fly to the Olympics and go to the occasional fight, but he can't take off and help Shields train in multi-million dollar lavish gyms in Las Vegas or Los Angeles.

So in order for Shields and Crutchfield to keep up their dynamic boxer-coach relationship, Shields stays local and continues her training at Berston.

"If it were up to me in my younger days, I would have chosen to live here instead of my house," Shields said. "It means a lot to me, and to see the impact that I have on the kids here – not just the boxing kids but the kids that do gymnastics upstairs or the kids that play basketball – they all kind of look up to me, and they like the fact that when they talk to me, I talk back to them. It all kind of puts me in a good place."

Shields already has called her shot heading into Friday and expects to take the world title from Adler, who will be making her U.S. debut and enters the fight with a 16-0 record, including nine knockouts.

Shields and her promoter already are lining up her next two or three fights, likely against other undefeated boxers or world title holders.

Whomever Shields decides to fight next, there's a great chance she'll be training in the hot, sweaty Berston basement – her home for the past 11 years.

"Training in a big lavish gym doesn't make you a big lavish fighter," she said. "Some of the best fighters came from basement gyms. ... I can come down here with a hoody on and everything, and I'll be perfectly fine. Others come down here like, 'Yo, what the hell?'

"... I'm not a model, I'm a boxer. I'm not training in a pretty gym, and I'm fine with that. I just need a bag, and I need to be able to get my workout done."